Since the news broke about the possible closure of Pope John XXIII, alumni, teachers, administrators and parents have raised almost $40,000 in an online fundraising effort.
This is a remarkable sum of money to raise in a week but far short of the $500,000 that must be raised to satisfy the Archdiocese.
School officials have remained mum about the door remaining open for another year, or for a future marked by better organization and vision.
Pope John XXIII High School deserves the aid of the Boston Archdiocese in order to remain open.
It deserves to come back from a death sentence that was placed upon it, and then removed, by the Archdiocese.
Cardinal O’Malley needs to reach out to the hundreds of alumni, present students, teachers and to the administration of the Catholic school who are now involved in a life or death struggle to keep the school open.
If the Boston Archdiocese and Cardinal O’Malley can spend $25 million to rehab Holy Cross Cathedral, then certainly $1 million can be found to keep Pope John XXIII High School open.
This is not just another Catholic school that has lost its reason to exist.
The outpouring of energy and emotion from everyone involved with the school leaves us with the strong sense that Pope John XXIII has a chance to sustain the reprieve given it by the Archdiocese – but this won’t happen without the direct intervention of the Cardinal.
Pope John XXIII isn’t financially unsound at this point because of its own financial ineptitude. In fact, the school was cruising along nicely… until a vendor the school did business with went bankrupt and stopped paying the school what he owed it to the tune of $600,000.
That vendor, who should be in jail, cannot be allowed to sink the school.
Continue reading Cardinal O’Malley must support Pope John XXIII during time of need
By Lorenzo Recupero & Joe Prezioso
The battle cry of the Pope John Tigers roared loudly across the school’s auditorium Monday evening as hundreds of current students, administrators, alumni and local politicians offered their feelings, ideas, and support for how to keep the Catholic School open amidst a $1.5 million shortfall that threatens to shutter the school’s doors for good if the money isn’t handed over to the Archdiocese by May 23.
That leaves the school, which opened its doors 54 years ago, just 23 more days to come up with a colossal amount of money or the roughly 300 students attending now will be searching for an education elsewhere.
A Broward County Florida insurance firm-turned- ‘Ponzi scheme’ headed by the same man that bilked Pope John XXIII of about $1.5 million, cost Florida, policyholders $100 million, according to Florida investigators.
Philip Morgaman owes Pope John XXIII about $1.5 million after declaring a bankruptcy and failing to make his monthly payments according to his contract with the school.
His company provided the school with foreign students and with their boarding, which was very successful for a number of years. In the end, it appears Morgaman took the money from the students’ parents and failed to hand over to the school its fair share for educating them and for putting them up in the school dormitory. Only through the heroic actions of Carl DiMaiti has the school remained open this long.